On April 25, 1964 the Toronto Maple Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup with a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. In winning the Cup in 1962 and 1963 the Leafs never once had a series go the full seven games, the 1964 playoffs were far different.

Finishing the regular season with 78 points in 70 games, good for third place in the NHL, they drew a match up with the first place Canadiens in the semi-finals. Toronto fell behind 3 games to 2 before heading home to a Johnny Bower shutout in game six by a score of 3-0. Back in Montreal, for game seven, the Leafs took the series with a 3-1 behind Dave Keon’s hat trick and advanced to the Cup final against Detroit.

Once again, Toronto fell behind in the series 3 games to 2, but in this case the sixth game would be on the road. Toronto would prevail in overtime on the famous Bobby Baun “broken leg goal” to send the Stanley Cup final to game seven back at Maple Leaf Gardens. Andy Bathgate gave Toronto a lead three minutes into the deciding match and it remained 1-0 through two periods. Dave Keon and Red Kelly each scored six minutes into the final period and Captain George Armstrong iced the game as Bower recorded his second shutout of the post-season. Frank Mahovlich topped Toronto with 15 points in the 14 playoff matches while Dave Keon led the way with 7 goals. The Leafs would win one more Stanley Cup in 1967, and are still waiting to get back to this day.